Dawn patrol for tourists' beach camps

BACKPACKERS camping at beachside carparks have been put on notice, with at least one Sydney council preparing to clamp down on illegal stays.

Randwick Council has announced it will begin conducting dawn patrols from Clovelly to La Perouse in a bid to stop campervans parking overnight during the summer.

Mayor Tony Brown said visitors were warmly welcome - but they need to check in to a hostel.

"In the past few years we've witnessed an increase in the number of backpackers setting up makeshift camp sites in our beachside carparks, leaving rubbish and toilet paper behind and partying late into the night," he said.

"It's not fair that ratepayers should have to pay to clean up their mess or have to put up with the noise and anti-social behaviour. We've written to backpacker hostels, campervan rental companies and tourist associations asking them to advise their customers about parking restrictions."

French backpackers Jim Resano and Maelle Borgie have spent the past few days parked at Maroubra.

They told The Daily Telegraph they were aware of the rules and left at night to park on a nearby side street.

"It's been very good here," Mr Resano said.

"We are going to Peru in two weeks so we are going to try to sell the van."

Immigration department figures show the number of Australian working holiday visas granted in the year to June 30 rose to 215,000 - up 15 per cent on a year earlier.

The largest source country is the UK with 41,712 visas granted, while visas granted to Italian applicants jumped 49 per cent to 9600.

Bondi Beach YHA manager Kati Farthing said there had been a change in the demographic of travellers arriving at her hostel.

"We've definitely seen a lot more French travellers lately, whereas Bondi was probably once better known for Brazilians, but that's not the case so much today."

"And the minute the weather warms up they're grabbing bodyboards and heading to the beach."

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